Railway Crime Branch arrested the five key culprits and managed to recover around 40 mobile phones, solving 21 cases in the process

These thieves put the ‘mobile’ in mobile phones by stealing handsets on local and long-distance trains in Mumbai, then selling them to a trusted trio, who then moved the phones to Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and, at times, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The Railway Crime Branch has arrested the five perpetrators and managed to recover around 40 cellphones, solving 21 cases in the process.

The breakthrough happened after the agency started investigations, following orders from the Commissioner of Government Railway Police (GRP), Prabhat Kumar. “Around ten phones are stolen every day in the suburban train network, and this data is based on the number of people who actually lodge cases,” said an officer from the GRP.

Police have also apprehended the people who purchased the phones from the culprits — Mehmood Malik (27), a resident of Mira Road, Narolla Khan (23), a resident of Nallasopara, and Imran Qureshi (25), a resident of Null Bazaar.

All five perpetrators have criminal records, with a minimum of ten cases registered against them, and top the list of mobile snatchers in railways. “After preparing a top ten list of criminals, the GRP crime branch started searching for the accused, and managed to nab these five over the last five days.

The accused would swipe cellphones in local and long-distance trains with the help of children, whom they used to pay Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per handset. They also took help from eunuchs, and would themselves dress nattily to pinch phones from first-class compartments,” added Wadmare.

How they fooled cops“They would never switch on a stolen phone for the first two months. Usually, a mobile operator gives us information of such a phone, when it’s activated in the Mumbai circle, using its IMEI no. But if the handset is turned on outside Maharashtra, it becomes difficult to get information,” said sub-inspector Rahul Khenat of the GRP Crime Branch.

A team comprising Wadmare, sub-inspectors Kale and Kendre, and staffers Pardeshi, Jadhav, Mujawar, Nagvekar and Durve worked round-the-clock and recovered the 40 mobile phones from the accused and the purchasers.

1 Comments

Riz 126-Feb-2014

Good Job Done. Kudos to the Team , who managed to hold such culprits. They should be behind bars for rest of their lives. Want to make easy. Do not want to sweat but loot the naive travelers.... They are also responsible for using children of their innocence and indulging them in crimes, spoiling their future.....